Not Out of Africa: How Afrocentrism Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as History
Item Preview
Not Out of Africa has sparked widespread debate over the teaching of revisionist history in schools and colleges. Was Socrates black? Did Aristotle steal his ideas from the library in Alexandria? Do we owe the underlying tenets of our democratic civilization to the Africans? Mary Lefkowitz explains why politically motivated histories of the ancient world are being written and shows how Afrocentrist claims blatantly contradict the historical evidence. Not Out of Africa is an important book that protects and argues for the necessity of historical truths and standards in cultural education.
Not Out of Africa combines a learned demolition of various politically correct historical fantasies with a thoughtful inquiry into questions of historical method and of academic freedom. Anyone perplexed by multicultural education should read it.
-ARTHUR SCHLESINGER, JR., CUNY GRADUATE CENTER
"A lightning rod for racial conspiracy theorists, antisemites, black nationalists and academic
leftists... scholarly detective work."
-WASHINGTON POST
"IN historical study mere is no such thing as the last word; but this book is the best word so far in the debate about Egypt's influence on classical Greek philosophy. It is also a rattling good yarn.... This book will not end the debate on these questions, but it will radically improve its quality."
-K. ANTHONY APPIAH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
"A brilliant, incisive, and erudite critique of the "hustle" that is Afrocentrism."
-CLARENCE E. WALKER, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
"Mary Lefkowitz's courageous book reminds us that history must be based on evidence, openly arrived at and openly argued, not myth, ideology, or opinion. She further reminds us that if scholars abandon the canons of scholarship, then the university itself is in peril."
-DIANE RAVITCH, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
"You're carried along not only by the quality of her argument but by the scholarly excitement of the hunt.... Most of it sure sounds conclusive to me."
-VILLAGE VOICE
MARY LEFKOWITZ is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Wellesley College. She is the author of many books on ancient Greece and Rome, including Lives of the Greek Poets and Women in Greek Myth, as well as articles for the Wall Street Journal and the New Republic. She is the coeditor of Women's Life in Greece and Rome and Black Athena Revisited.
Not Out of Africa combines a learned demolition of various politically correct historical fantasies with a thoughtful inquiry into questions of historical method and of academic freedom. Anyone perplexed by multicultural education should read it.
-ARTHUR SCHLESINGER, JR., CUNY GRADUATE CENTER
"A lightning rod for racial conspiracy theorists, antisemites, black nationalists and academic
leftists... scholarly detective work."
-WASHINGTON POST
"IN historical study mere is no such thing as the last word; but this book is the best word so far in the debate about Egypt's influence on classical Greek philosophy. It is also a rattling good yarn.... This book will not end the debate on these questions, but it will radically improve its quality."
-K. ANTHONY APPIAH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
"A brilliant, incisive, and erudite critique of the "hustle" that is Afrocentrism."
-CLARENCE E. WALKER, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
"Mary Lefkowitz's courageous book reminds us that history must be based on evidence, openly arrived at and openly argued, not myth, ideology, or opinion. She further reminds us that if scholars abandon the canons of scholarship, then the university itself is in peril."
-DIANE RAVITCH, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
"You're carried along not only by the quality of her argument but by the scholarly excitement of the hunt.... Most of it sure sounds conclusive to me."
-VILLAGE VOICE
MARY LEFKOWITZ is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Wellesley College. She is the author of many books on ancient Greece and Rome, including Lives of the Greek Poets and Women in Greek Myth, as well as articles for the Wall Street Journal and the New Republic. She is the coeditor of Women's Life in Greece and Rome and Black Athena Revisited.
Reviews
Reviewer:
Jonathan Price
-
favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
April 17, 2013
Subject: Excellent Book!
"A lightning rod for racial conspiracy theorists, antisemites, black nationalists and academic leftists... scholarly detective work."
-WASHINGTON POST
Yes indeed, a "lightning rod" used to expose and destroy manufactured, feel-good, Black pseudo-history.
"Antisemites" = Jew-wise gentiles that expose Jewish treachery, malfeasance, subversion, etc. or simply those whose interests run counter to that of Jewry's.
"There is no anti-semitism without semitism; one presupposes the other."--E. Zundel
"Tis better to be Jew-wise (anti-semitic) than Jew-ignorant."--J. Steele
Long live "antisemitism."
Subject: Excellent Book!
"A lightning rod for racial conspiracy theorists, antisemites, black nationalists and academic leftists... scholarly detective work."
-WASHINGTON POST
Yes indeed, a "lightning rod" used to expose and destroy manufactured, feel-good, Black pseudo-history.
"Antisemites" = Jew-wise gentiles that expose Jewish treachery, malfeasance, subversion, etc. or simply those whose interests run counter to that of Jewry's.
"There is no anti-semitism without semitism; one presupposes the other."--E. Zundel
"Tis better to be Jew-wise (anti-semitic) than Jew-ignorant."--J. Steele
Long live "antisemitism."
